USA Boxing puts forth new trans policy and everybody is ****ed off
Advocates both for and against trans women in women’s sports are unhappy with USA Boxing’s policy.

By Cyd Zeigler@CydZeigler Updated Jan 2, 2024, 5:15pm PST 0 Comments / 0 New


Mikaela Mayer is one of the boxers speaking out against USA Boxing’s trans-inclusion policy. Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images

USA Boxing reportedly has a “new” policy regarding transgender athletes, and it’s already infuriating people across the spectrum.

Advocates for trans women’s participation in the female category are pointing to some of the harshest restrictions in sport. People who oppose trans women in the female category are upset there is any path to participation for them.

The World Boxing Council has, on the international stage, barred trans women from the female category, saying they will build a transgender category. Other countries’ governing bodies, like Boxing New Zealand, have followed suit.

The policy, as widely reported, has a number of key elements to it.

First, every athlete under 18 must compete in the category corresponding to their sex assigned at birth. This flies in the face of many of the more-strict trans-inclusion policies in sports, which allow for athletes to compete in their gender category as long as they haven’t experienced puberty.

Yet in boxing, a 15-year-old trans girl who has been on puberty blockers since they were 10 still has to compete in the male category.

Second, adult boxers must have had gender reassignment surgery. For years, sports governing bodies have moved away from this requirement, so the return of this requirement for USA Boxing is putting the push toward broader trans inclusion in reverse.

Third, adult boxers have to show they have have testosterone levels under 5 nmol/L for four years prior to competing. That four years is the longest wait period for any sport that allows trans women to compete in the female category.

Now USA Boxing is facing widespread criticism for the policy — at this point the strictest in sports (other than outright bans).

On one side, people are critical that the ban has any path to participation for trans women in boxing’s female category. Whether the policy mandated four years or 10 years of HRT,

“I will never agree to this,” said former world champion Ebanie Bridges. “It’s bad enough having trans women breaking records in other sports like track and field, swimming and power lifting but it’s a bit different to them breaking our skulls in combat sports where the aim is to HURT YOU not just break a record.”

The “skulls” line has been used to target trans athletes in combat sports ever since Fallon Fox, competing in professional mixed martial arts six years after her transition, broke the eye orbital of an opponent. Critics say she broke her “skull” simply because it sounds worse.

“Hormone therapy is banned,” professional boxer Mikaela Mayer said on X. “By default, this should make trans athletes ineligible for competition. Doesn’t matter how you feel about the situation, fact is, it’s illegal and completely disrupts the even playing field that sport works so hard to create.”

Riley Gaines, the former college swimmer who came to prominence arguing publicly against trans women in female sports after competing against Lia Thomas, said a trans woman will end up killing a female boxer.

“Mark my words, it will take a woman getting killed before these misogynistic fools wake up.”

Dozens of boxers have been killed by cisgender boxers during matches, including a number of women. Major injuries are already a consistent aspect of the sport, before any trans woman steps into the female pro-boxing ring.

For trans advocates, this will be viewed as a setback. While there is a path to participation for trans women in the female category, the mandated surgery and four years of mandated HRT will be considered overly restrictive.

As mentioned, Fox did have surgery and six years of HRT before competing in professional MMA. So it is possible. Yet it’s a far cry from the one- or two-year mandates and no surgery that have been the most common guidelines over the last few years.

USA Boxing seems to be trying to thread the needle here, create a way for trans women to compete, but also raise the barrier to entry high enough to stave off some critics.

In the end, their policy will simply **** off everyone involved in this debate.
Boxing
Fallon Fox